Saturday, January 31, 2009

Allen Andrade's murder trial doesn't start until April 14, but even while in jail he continues to rack up additional charges.

Recently a Weld County Sheriff's Office affidavit, after a fight broke out between two inmate, a correctional officer issued a 'lock down' order. Andrade wasn't involved in the fight, but approached it. He ignored two orders to lock down and because he did so, was charged with engaging in a riot in a detention facility, a felony, and obstructing a peace officer, a misdemeanor

The murder trial for Angie's accused killer is expected to last two weeks, and let's hope and pray that justice is done.

You can add another truism to the other certainties in life. If it's an odd numbered year, Serena Williams will win the Australian Open.

If there was any doubt about whether the Williams sisters were back to their usual domination of women's tennis, well Baby Sis put an end to any protestations to the contrary.

Serena Williams crushed Dinara Safina 6-0, 6-3 in 59 minutes to take her fourth Australian Open title and her tenth Grand Slam singles title. With the win Serena replaced Jelena Jankovic as the Number One player in women's tennis.

The domination of Safina was so complete that Baby Sis took only 22 minutes to win the first set with an aggressive attacking style that flustered Safina into multiple unforced errors.

Safina composed herself and tried to rally in the second set, breaking Serena to take a brief 1-0 lead. Baby Sis responded by breaking Safina's serve twice to forge a 4-1 lead.

Safina kept fighting and managed to hold serve, cutting Serena's lead to 4-2 but Serena quickly built it back to 5-2. Safina held serve thanks to a critical referee's call that gave her a 40-30 lead and allowed her a stay of tennis execution at 5-3. Serena would not be denied as she served her way to a 40-0 lead and three championship points which she quickly converted for the win.

Dinara Safina was trying make a little tennis history of her own. Had she won she and her brother, 2005 Australian Open champion Marat Safin would have become the first brother-sister siblings to win the same Grand Slam tournament. But at the level Serena was playing that wasn't happening.

The Williams sisters have won the last three Grand Slam tournaments, and if today's match was any indicator, it may be a long year for the rest of the women's tennis world.

May I remind you peeps that Baby Sis is only 27 and in 2011, don't bet against Serena Williams winning a fifth Australian Open singles title and adding another Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup to her trophy room.

Friday, January 30, 2009

It happened 20 years after Ronald H. Brown became the first African American to head a major political party when he became chair of the Democratic Party, but today former Maryland Lt, Governor Michael Steele became the first Black chair of the Republican Party.

It took six rounds of voting, but he eventually bested the incumbent chair Mike Duncan from Kentucky and three challengers that included Ken Blackwell.

Well, he's got a tough job ahead of him. He takes over a party with a major image problem, whose political base has shrunk to the Deep South and has been spanked in consecutive national elections.

"We're going to say to friend and foe alike: We want you to be a part of us, we want you to with be with us, and for those who wish to obstruct, get ready to get knocked over," Steele said.

As a proud yellow dog Democrat I've never been a fan of Steele, but I'm not going to be as nekulturny as Rush Limbaugh was toward President Obama (and still is). I salute your history making accomplishment but sincerely doubt I'll be rushing to join your party since your policies aren't even in the same reality based universe I inhabit.

It will be interesting to see what you accomplish during your term as GOP chair, and even if you can breathe any life back into the moribund Republican party.

In 1982 Wisconsin became the first state to pass a law banning discrimination against gays and lesbians. Transgender people weren't included in that law, and as we've heard over and over again like a broken record from the GL incrementalist crowd, 'We'll come back for you"'

Wisconsin is Exhibit A of what the incrementalists mean when they screech, 'we'll come back for you'.

'We'll cone back for you' equals 'never'.

I'm focusing on this again in light of the fact that a biracial 28 year old transwoman named Sierra Broussard was denied entry to the Park Central nightclub in downtown Appleton, WI. Sierra is African-American and White, lives full time as a passable woman who has no plans to seek SRS, but unfortunately the gender marker on her ID has that dreaded 'M' on it.

One of the things we are seeing is increasing cases of transwomen being exposed to discrimination because some troglodyte harasses her because they saw on the ID the 'M' in the gender code box. From that point it doesn't take an MIT grad to figure out that the person who just handed you said ID is a transwoman.

“You don’t have to get along with people, but you don’t have to discriminate,” said Ms. Broussard.

The civil complaint Sierra filed stated one Park Central employee said if she "used either bathroom it would cause confusion for the other patrons," and claims she was told to go to another club, one that caters to "her kind."

A manager told the Post-Crescent newspaper that the bar does not discriminate against gays or lesbians, but cannot accommodate Broussard because allowing her to use either the men's or women's restroom is a safety issue.

Bullshit. I'm tired of y'all and the Religious Reich citing bathrooms as the justification for your transphobic bigotry.

We're also tired as a community of being repeatedly cut out of civil rights legislation in various states and at the federal level, being told it's necessary so it can pass, and you'll come back to add us to it later while regurgitating the 'half a loaf is better than none' analogy.

Half a civil rights loaf for you still means the transgender community is starving at the civil rights dinner table after you've feasted and walked away satisfied. The transgender community in Wisconsin is still experiencing a civil rights famine at the state level that has lasted over 25 years.

So Wisconsin GL community, when can my fellow transpeople experience the same civil rights protections that you enjoy and demanded for yourselves?

Then again, the more pertinent question is what are you going to do in concert with the Wisconsin transgender community to help make it a reality?

Well, it wasn't a totally bad week for Big Sis in Melbourne. Venus shook off her shocking second round loss to team up with Little Sis and grab the 2009 Australian Open doubles title in straight sets over Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova and Japan's Ai Sugiyama 6-3 6-3.

The heat continues to be the other story of this tournament, and the retractable roof at Rod Laver Arena was once again closed by tournament officials with the outside temps approaching 115 degrees (40 degrees Celsius) for the third straight day.

Didn't matter because the Williams sisters were just as hot as the weather. They blitzed through the first set in 38 minutes. Despite some service problems they relentlessly attacked their opponents and repeatedly broke their serves to secure the victory.

The Williams sisters had previously won the Australian Open doubles title in 2001 and 2003. It was their third Australian Open doubles title and their eighth Grand Slam doubles title overall.

In addition, they have climbed into a third place tie with Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suarezon on the all time list of Grand Slam doubles title winners. They trail only Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver who won 21 titles and the duo of Gigi Fernandez and Natasha Zvereva with 14.

Big Sis told reporters that she feels she and Little Sis would have won more titles if they had played more doubles.

I agree. I think they'd be in striking distance of Martina and Pam Shriver if they had over the last decade, but it's still not too late for them. The next major is the French Open in Paris and then Williamsdon, oops Wimbledon.

Serena still has her singles championship match left to play Down Under, and I hope this was a nice warmup for her.

I'm initiating a new feature on TransGriot today to add to your blogging pleasure.

Every Friday I'll pass out the 'Shut Up Fool! Award. They will go to the person or persons that say the stupidest, most asinine crap during the previous week.

There were many worthy honorees I could have chosen for this week's award, and I know you're anxious to find out who won, so let's get to the nominees for this week inaugural award.

Rush Limbaugh must be swallowing the OxyContin again and drinking Republican red hateraid from 55 gallon drums. He's said he 'hopes Obama fails', and after getting slammed by fellow conservatives and others, has been trying to spin the comment ever since.

There's the ongoing soap opera with Rod Blagojevich, and please Illinois legislature, impeach the idiot, remove him from office and get him the help he needs because his 15 minutes of fame was up a long time ago.

Ann Coulter for her latest waste of trees and the asinine comments she made on The View that single mothers were 'raising criminals'. She forgot that she was saying it in front of single mother Whoopi Goldberg, who ripped her a new anus.

But this week's winner is Faux News sellout Juan Williams, who called First Lady Michelle Obama 'Stokely Carmichael in a dress'.

This meme of trying to paint the First Lady as the second coming of Angela Davis is getting old from you conservatives.

That's who I chose this week. Any comments? Were there other peeps you think should have won it? Discuss.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

New year, new tennis season, and the first Grand Slam tournament is being played Down Under.

Y'all know I have much love for my my favorite tennis playing siblings and was hoping to see another all-Williams final. I was horrified to watch Venus just stop doing what worked in the first set and get unceremoniously bounced from the Australian Open women's singles in the second round by Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2, 3-6, 5-7.

But no worries mates and sheilas. Baby Sis upheld Williams family honor and made it all the way to Saturday night's (Melbourne time) final at Rod Laver Arena while battling the oppressive summer heat. (Yes peeps, it's summer south of the Equator)

Serena will be playing in her fourth Australian Open final versus Russia's Dinara Safina after taking only 99 minutes to beat Russia's Elena Dementieva 6-3, 6-4.

Serena interestingly enough has won the Australian Open in 2003, 2005 and 2007 and since this is an odd numbered year, let's hope the pattern continues.

One of the things that my transsisters and transbrothers around the world are cognizant of is that we are involved in a worldwide struggle for respect and recognition of our human rights. It has been great getting to know some of my overseas transfamily and I'm looking forward to the day when we finally meet face to face.

One important facet of this human rights struggle is having biosisters in our corner. Some of my biosisters have taken it a step further and made it their mission in life to embrace what we're fighting for as well. Sometimes they speak just as loudly and eloquently about our issues than some of my own transsisters who accept the indignities and cower in their closets.

Some have taken it a step further, surround us with love and extend the hands of friendship as well.

I have been blessed throughout my transition to have biowomen at various stages of it who have and still are unflinchingly proud to call me their friend.

I have been taught at those various stages of my transition important life lessons by the various biowomen in my life in those periods. I continue to learn, grow and benefit from those friendships even as I worry that my biosisters who do that will catch flack or be stigmatized as 'weird' by their fellow biosisters or whatever other epithet is thrown at them just for daring to include me in their circle of sistahfriends.

At the same time, I hope that I've been able to show them and help them understand what I and other transwomen go through just to live our lives.

I also consider it an honor that they have made me part of their lives as well, knowing some of the bullshit sometimes that they go though just to do that.

Ladies, if you haven't heard this from your transsisters, I'm gonna say it now and keep repeating it as frequently as I can. Thank you for being a friend, standing with us and sharing with us the things we need to know in order to live quality lives as the women we were born to be in spirit but not quite body.

Know that you are loved and deeply appreciated by me and my transsisters as well for making us a part of your lives.

When President Obama makes his first international trip on February 19 the destination will be Canada.

Typically the first international trip most US presidents take is to Canada because of the special relationship and it's our largest trading partner.

The itinerary has yet to be finalized, but Ottawa is definitely one of the stops. The Canadian Parliament won't be sitting during the week of the visit, so it's unlikely that President Obama will get to address them as 50 other world leaders have done unless something changes.

PM Harper stated on Wednesday, "This is a testament, not just to the size of our trading relationship and the closeness of our alliance, but also the strength of our friendship,"

The expected topics to be discussed during this visit are in addition to the economy, plans for a North American climate-change policy, energy, trade, border issues and Afghanistan.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

The Creating Change Conference is taking place this weekend in Denver starting today through February 1. While it's one of my favorite GLBT conferences, I attended my first one in 1999 when it was held in Oakland and I met some wonderful people at it, the one thing I don't like is the recent change to conduct it in the winter.

Last year they held it in Detroit, and now Denver. I understand and like the idea of moving it around so that it gets held in different regions of the country, but if you're going to hold it in January-February, can we put it in a warm weather city?

But the change to winter dates is the only complaint I have about Creating Change. It's a must attend event if you even want to think about activism in the GLBT community. It's not only a diverse event, the seminars are plentiful, informative cover a wide range of topics and are top notch.

The best part about Creating Change is that you have the opportunity to meet a cross section of national GLBT activists and leaders from the vets to emerging voices. I love the fact that it's affordable and accessible enough for college students to attend.

During the 1999 one I not only got to renew acquaintances with then Task Force leader Kerry Lobel, but met now California state senator Mark Leno, author and transkids activist Just Evelyn, Jane Fee, Stephan Thorne and the late Alexander John Goodrum. I also got to spend that conference rooming at a San Francisco hotel with Dawn as we checked out the various sights, sounds and tastes of the city when we weren't bouncing back and forth across the Bay on BART.

I'm still mildly ticked that I missed the protest that happened at the 1999 Creating Change that was triggered by an African-American transwoman being disrespected by an Oakland Po-Po.

She reported an assault to the officer that happened to her near the convention center where the conference was being held. When she reported the crime, the officer told her, "I am tired of having to do all this paperwork. You guys have been told not to be on the corner of 14th and Broadway. I am tired of your shit..."

The next day 1500 people were marching on the Oakland Police Department headquarters while I was on an airplane headed back to Houston.

Note to GLBT haters-if you're going to mess with or disrespect us, don't do it when a GLBT conference is in town. There will be swift, sure and immediate reaction to it.

The sponsor of this event, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, has been the antithesis of HRC for over a decade. They are enthusiastic allies of transgender people and not only talk the talk, they walk the walk. Unlike HRC, whose leaders have never shown up at an IFGE conference, Kerry Lobel, the then head of the Task Force graced us with a keynote speech in 2000 and was at the 1997 ICTLEP Conference in Houston. The Task Force is part of the United ENDA coalition that seeks to pass a transgender inclusive ENDA, and they have unflinchingly tackled race, class and social issues within the GLBT community.

As much as I love Denver and would love to be there for this event to see some of my old and the new friends I met at the Transcending Gender Conference, complications won't permit me to go this time.

I'm mildly upset I'm missing it because Bishop Yvette Flunder is going to be there for this one. I've wanted to meet her ever since Louis Mitchell raved about her at the 2005 TSTB.

Will be thinking about all you peeps who are at Creating Change this weekend while I'm shoveling snow.

As if it weren't bad enough we had the snow here, we're now dealing with a nasty ice storm as well.

We've had rain falling with temps at the freezing mark for almost 24 hours and it's already starting to cause problems with our local power grid. According to the roomies, we briefly lost power in the crib, so I have to reset the clocks in my room.

It could be worse. We have sections of town, and southern Kentucky dealing with no power at all as I type this.

The city crews have been on the job. They've gone through almost 500 tons of salt so far and have done a bang up job keeping the roads clear.

I also live in a section of town that has lots of trees. Pretty to look at, but not when they're coated with ice and we just had the remnants of Ike blow through here a few months ago. Whatever branches on those trees that were weakened by Ike's 70 mph winds back in September but didn't fall will probably snap under the weight of a few inches of ice.

Oops, right on cue just heard a large branch snap on my next door neighbor's tree.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

When I was growing up in Houston, falling snow was a cause for civic celebration. Living here in Louisville, I've leaned to despise snow if it falls in amounts of more than three inches.

As many of you know who watch the Weather Channel, we got whacked by a nasty winter storm last night and Round Two is hitting us later this evening. The kids are enjoying another day off from school, most businesses are closed and there aren't many cars on the roads either. I've got to trudge off to work later and hopefully I'll be back in the house before the next wave hits.

The worst snow we've gotten since I moved here was the 10 inches we got whacked with last March that I fortunately missed because I was rolling up I-65 with Dawn to Chicago for a fencing tournament. We also received 9 inches of snow from that 2004 Christmas eve storm that dropped snow along the Gulf Coast from the Texas-Mexico border to New Orleans and points north.

It's times like these I really miss home and walking around in 70-90 degree weather in January with shorts on. But cold weather has its purposes in the great scheme of things, and as long as it means I won't be swatting at hordes of mosquitoes this spring and summer, then I'll deal with it.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Back in May 2007 I wrote a newspaper column entitled Genetic Women and Transwomen-Can We Be Friends? that generated an interesting and thought provoking discussion on the issue of friendship between transsistahs and our biosistahs that I had to continue on this blog.

I and the panelists had so much fun doing it, I'm thinking about initiating on TransGriot a regular feature in which I gather a panel of transwomen and our biosisters together on a monthly basis to discuss various issues.

Sometimes they will be predominately bloggers, sometimes not. Sometimes it may be a discussion that's WOC only so that we can talk about some issues unique to the community, sometimes it will be a broad cross section of panelists across our diverse rainbow of humanity.

It's part of my New Year's resolution to not only open this blog up to other voices, but continue to break down any potential barriers between us and our biosisters that hinder communication and allow us to build mutually beneficial friendships with each other.

This is where you TransGriot readers come in. When I begin this ongoing series of panel discussions, what topics would you like to see discussed by my esteemed panelists?

I mentioned in a post last month that one of the pioneers of facial feminization surgery, Dr. Douglas Ousterhout is planning to retire in 2011. But what I didn't do was explain what facial feminization surgery is.

There are some of my sisters who were fortunate enough to get the genetic luck of the draw and all we needed was hormones and attitude to pass successfully. Others of us started early enough in our lives to avoid the ravages of demon testosterone on our bodies.

But for those peeps who either transition late in life or need help to feminize their appearance from the neck up, they resort to facial feminization surgery to do so.

Basically, facial feminization surgery (or FFS for short) is a wide array of surgical techniques employed to make a masculine face resemble a more feminine one.

If you watched the MTV show 'I Want A Famous Face' and remember Jessica, that's basically what she was doing.

Facial feminization surgery involves facial plastic surgery, maxillofacial surgery and reconstructive surgery. While those surgery skills and disciplines are well known, there are not many surgeons that specialize in FFS techniques worldwide. Those that are skilled at it are highly sought after.

While transwomen are major customers of the surgeons who specialize in this area, there are biowomen who do avail themselves of their services as well because of dissatisfaction with what they may consider masculine facial features.

Some of the techniques are forehead contouring, in which the bony ridge just above the eyes is removed and shaped to create a more feminine appearance. Scalp advancements, brow lifts are also done to enhance the new smooth forehead.

Sometimes, chin and cheek implants may be necessary or chin reshaping, in which the old squared male chin is given a more rounded feminine appearance.

There's also the tracheal shave, in which the cartilage bulge on the neck is shaved down as much as possible without touching the vocal cords.

Some people undergo rhinoplasty to get more feminine appearing noses, face lifts and lip augmentations as well.

The procedures, when completed and the post-surgical pain and swelling subsides, result in remarkable results, but it ain't cheap. FFS can cost anywhere from $10-40K depending on what procedures you get, which surgeon is doing them and where you get it done.

Bu for some transwomen, the positive effects on their self esteem and peace of mind because they blend in better with society are worth every penny they spent on it.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Some of you may not recognize the name, but probably recognize that beautiful face. You may also recognize who she is if I say the name Vanity 6 as well.

January 4 marked her milestone birthday, and if you listen to the Niagara Falls, ON native tell her story or read her autobiography Blame It On Vanity, she'll probably tell you she's thankful she made it.

If Evangelist Denise K. Matthews is doing any touring these days, it's basically to spread the gospel. But back in the day she fronted Prince's girl group Vanity 6, was the crush of just about every Black male growing up during that era and admired by many in the entertainment world and beyond.

She overcame a less than pleasant childhood, drug addition, a turbulent romantic relationship, losing a kidney, suffering a stroke and heart attack. being rendered temporarily deaf and blinded by that stroke and nearly dying in 1994.

She survived all of that and is still standing. Denise is still as beautiful as ever, but her focus these days is spreading the Word from her Fremont, CA based ministry and making the inner Denise match the beautiful person we see on the outside.

Bil from the Bilerico Project, the blog I'm a contributing writer to sent me an update on the piss poor reporting on the Taysia Elzy case. The local Indy GLBT community was not happy about the coverage of Taysia's December 28 murder (and neither was I) and have been working with GLAAD to ensure that what happened in this case isn't repeated in the future.

In addition to praising the reporters that did get it right, they are doing training session to familiarize the Indy media as to how to respectfully cover the GLBT community, and especially transgender people.

However, it has come to my attention that there are still a few hardheads that refuse to get with the program.

One of them is Steve Jefferson, the crime reporter for WTHR-13, the NBC TV affiliate in Indianapolis. He was highlighted by GLAAD on their 'Worst of the National News' part of their website for December 2008 as an example of how NOT to cover transgender people. To make it even more galling for me personally, he shares my ethnic background.

It's being reported that Jefferson is bristling at the attention he's received from GLAAD about it and his station has been glacially slow to change the story.

According to GLAAD, when it was pointed out to Jefferson what the AP Stylebook rules clearly state about covering transgender people, he is reported to have fired back in an e-mail, “I did not do this story based on lifestyle.” Jefferson furthered, “Our goal is to catch the killer- NOT promote your cause.” He also said he did not use female pronouns because he said the transgender victim “was NOT post-op.”

Yo Steve, it's not about an agenda, it's about respecting a community that watches your newscasts. Once again, this is what the AP Stylebook says about covering transgender people and has since 2001:

Use the pronoun preferred by the individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics of the opposite sex or present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth. If that preference is not expressed, use the pronoun consistent with the way the individuals live publicly

It does not say anywhere that pronoun usage in a story you compose on a transgender person is based on or determined by genitalia.

If we mere bloggers get that, why can't you media professionals?

The story was supposedly corrected on January 23, but you're still in violation of the AP Stylebook rules by not only using her old male name, but putting Taysia's name in quotation marks.

Here's a story that was done in JET magazine two decades before the AP Stylebook rules on covering transpersons were penned, and they got it right.

Then again, maybe the problem here is that you DON'T want to get it right.

So once again TransGriot readers, be nice and write the wonderful peeps at WTHR-TV.

GLAAD urges you to contact WTHR Crime Reporter, Steve Jefferson and WTHR News Director, Carolyn Williams and voice your concerns. Tell them to make the necessary corrections to this story, cover the transgender community with accuracy and respect and in line with standard language usage.

Take a look at these beautiful women. Since the beauty conversation doesn't include or ignores black transwomen, it's time we jump start our own.

Thanks to Frank Leon Roberts, aka Frank Mizrahi for graciously allowing me to use his photos. Check out his wonderful blog that not only chronicles the ballroom community, but gives you some sharp commentary on a wide array of subjects from this learned brother. And I'm looking forward to the day when I finally get a chance to chat with him and we try to figure out whether we're related or not.

One of the frequent themes that pops up in any conversation between me and my Canadian friends besides waxing poetic about all things 'Timmys' is them dissing Alberta.

As some of you may or may not know, Alberta is frequently compared to my home state of Texas because of the wealth, the oil industry ties, the rampant conservatism on steroids both there and my birth state, and conservative national leaders from Alberta and Texas despised by the rest of the nation's citizens.

One of the jokes I frequently hear from Canadians living in the eastern end of the country is 'we'll trade you Alberta for Minnesota' (or whatever deal they can get for it).

Sorry, we ain't giving up Minnesota. What would I do without Prince, the Minnesota Vikings, the Minnesota Twins, and when I'm griping about what passes for cold weather here in Da Ville, thanking my lucky stars I'm not there or in Palin-run Alaska?

The Oil Sands, Edmonton, Banff National Park and Calgary make it a tempting offer, but until we can turn Texas back to its progressive roots, we can't risk having Stephen Harper and his conservafriends in Wild Rose Country linking up with the Republican idiots they admire.

We just got a Democratic president in the White House who is quite busy cleaning up the Chernobylesque mess that Bushie boy left behind.

So, in the words of the latest game show craze south of the border, No Deal!

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About The TransGriot

Monica Roberts, AKA the TransGriot (Gree-oh) is a native Houstonian, GLAAD award nominated blogger, writer, and award winning trans human rights advocate. She's the founding editor of TransGriot, and her writing has appeared at the Bilerico Project, Ebony.com, The Huffington Post and the Advocate.
She works to foster understanding and acceptance of trans people inside and outside communities of color and was recently honored with the Virginia Prince Transgender Pioneer Award

TransGriot Blog Mission Statement

The TransGriot blog's mission is to become the griot of our community. I will introduce you to and talk about your African descended trans brothers and trans sisters across the Diaspora, reclaim and document our chocolate flavored trans history, speak truth to power, comment on the things that impact our trans community from an Afrocentric perspective and enlighten you about the general things that go on around me and in the communities that I am a member of.

--Mission Statement compiled January 2, 2011

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Feel free to leave comments on the posts. But bear in mind that you are guests in my cyberhome. As soon as I get to them, your comments are posted at my pleasure.

They will post as soon as I approve them, so no need to repeat sending them.

I strive to make it a safe zone for people to respectfully express themselves, but I have zero tolerance for hate speech, transphobic or blatantly disrespectful comments or ad spam.

I reserve the right to edit your comments for clarity or not post them at all.

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The TransGriot is available for speaking engagements, college lectures, panel discussions, media interviews, conferences or Trans 101 education efforts for your school, business or professional organizations.

For local Houston area, Texas or national events, you can e-mail me at transgriot@yahoo.com

For events outside the Houston metro area, I ask that my travel and lodging expenses be covered.

This is separate from my speaking fee.

If you are interested in having me appear as a speaker or panelist, you can e-mail me with the date and details of your proposed event.

Please book as early as possible because my speaking and event calendar slots during the year rapidly fill up.

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This personal blog allows me to express my constitutionally guaranteed First Amendment free speech rights and kick knowledge to y'all at the same time on various issues.

Nothing in it shall be construed, spun, remixed, altered or interpreted to mean it represents the views of my employers or the boards of the organizations that I sit on.

Photos and videos posted to this blog are used for illustrative purposes only and unless noted in the post or linked article, photos/videos don't indicate or are not intended to imply the person depicted in said photo/video is transgender